Imminent Sonic Destruction – Chicago

Back on the road! Lights! Camera! No camera! Action, though! Things! Stuff! Junk!

You guys, this is the one about playing at Reggie’s in Chicago. Well, I mean, these are never really about playing. Mostly they’re about all the sh!t that goes on around the gigs, which is what I assume you’re reading for. Saying “we played the same set, and it went great. Again.” in every entry would probably bore the hell out of you if you weren’t robots. Robots can’t get bored. Fun fact. They also can’t feel real love.

Man. I’m pretty bummed out right now. No love. It’s sad. But you know what will snap me right out of it? Telling you guys about Chicago. The first thing I need to say about Reggie’s is that the alley behind it is probably the best-smelling place in the tri-planet area. That may seem like a strange thing to say, and honestly it is a little weird when I look at it in print. But it’s true. You’re going to have to trust me on this one, children of the corn.

So parking our RV under the L tracks and hanging out for several hours behind the bar is really not too bad. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait involved in playing these shows. We have to hurry and load in during our allowed time; then we wait until they’re ready for us to get our gear on stage. Short bursts of frenzied activity followed by time to sit and drink, read, write diary posts, drink, do some crossbow hunting of human beings on the streets of Chicago, so we have something to put in the crockpot, play Jenga, etc.

So yeah, obviously there was a show. A Chicago band called Ion Vein ripped it up before we went on, nice job boys. As for our set, we were cruising along great and then during the last song I noticed some movement off to the side of the stage. I glanced over and saw Ray from Fates Warning waving, which was cool. Then, of course, I screwed up and flubbed a note. THANKS A LOT, RAY. Watching our set like a jerk. Oh wait, that’s actually really cool. Strike that last part.

Watching Fates Warning’s set in this venue was a treat. We got to stand off to the side and just soak it in behind the scenes, so to speak. They’re killing it on this tour, you guys. The setlist is ridiculous, they’re playing their d!cks off, it’s just all around pretty sweet to see night in and night out. We’re loving every minute of it. Well, I guess I’ll let you guys go for now. We head for Cleveland next, and the historic Agora Theater. ROCK! \m/(><)\m/